Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own DN Angel. Or a refrigerator. I wish I owned a personal refrigerator, because it's really hot where I live and I get yelled at when I try to sit in the one we have.

AN: I'm just going to apologize in advance; in the next few chapters I'm going to be switching the point of view around. A lot. However, I will try to keep you as oriented as possible.

Satoshi's POV

Krad led me outside of the cave, and I got the most distinct feeling that whatever he wanted to tell me wasn't good news about how to release Gray safely. The sun, shining brightly overhead, caused me to blink and shield my eyes, which had become used to the flickering dimness of the crystals. I took a moment to survey the land around us, and was stunned at the beauty that surrounded the mountain.

Krad and I stood on a cliff that sat thousands of feet in the air, near the middle of a tall mountain that stood alone in the midst of a grassy plain. Off somewhere in the distance, I saw the glint of a lake, and even further away saw wisps of smoke, as though a fire burned against the blue, cloudless sky.

"Krad, why did you want to talk to me?" I asked, having looked my fill at the picturesque scene in front of us. I didn't really want an answer, but I figured it would better to hear what the angel had to say now than later.

Krad stood, gazing out toward the lake for a long time. He did not answer my question, but I let him stand in silence until he was ready to speak. "We are becoming separate," he said at last. "I do not claim to know why, though the spell that… that Gray found to separate us might have something to do with it. It might be stronger than I originally thought." It took me several minutes to try and remember the spell he was talking about, but then I recalled the nightmarish hours in which Krad had been a part of me again, and how Gray had searched frantically with Towa and Argentine to free us for a second time. I sighed and looked up at the sky, wondering when this madness would end.

"I will fade if I am not released soon," Krad continued. "The bonds between us are already faint. You should not try to contact me. You will only hurt yourself." I continued to stare at the sky.

"Why can I not release you now?" I asked, quietly hoping Krad would tell me to do just that. However, he continued to stare at the lake, and would not look at me.

"I will be released with death," Krad replied. My stomach rolled, and my vision of the sky blurred before falling into focus again. My legs suddenly felt very weak, and my head light.

"A death," I said quietly, slipping down the mountainside to sit on the cliff. "Not necessarily mine though, am I correct?" Krad was silent, and I was aware of how my heart was pounding through my ears. "Krad…?"

"I'll be able to stay here for several more years in this state," he replied calmly. "I might even last a decade if I learn what's causing this. But in the end it will have to be one of us, or the other." I glanced over at him, furious and disgusted.

"I finally thought I was going to have a normal life," I said, trying to stop my voice from shaking. "I thought I would be able to relax, and… start a family even, and now, you're telling me I'll be dead in ten years." My voice cracked when I said 'dead'. I couldn't stop myself. I had made plans for the future; I had thought I was finally free from the 'curse' that had plagued my family for so long… and now I was going to die. Krad sat down next to me, very calmly. He acted as though this was an everyday thing, something that had happened hundreds of times before.

"Satoshi-sama," he said quietly, "you were not listening. I said 'one or the other'. You might die and release me… or I might simply fade away long before your death. We will ignore that small fact, of course, until we are forced to face it. I would rather it be me, if that makes you feel any better."

"What about Gray?" I snapped, "What would happen to her if you died?" Krad chuckled, which only served to infuriate me more.

"Gray will know exactly what's happening," Krad said. "I have an odd feeling she will understand. Who knows? Maybe she will aid us in finding a… cure, I suppose, to this rather unfortunate situation." He stood quietly, now done with his piece, and glanced at the lake one more time. I wondered why he was so drawn to it, but didn't ask. I was almost certain I didn't care.

"Come," the white winged being looked down at me. "I believe I still must find your… friend." He shook his head slightly, as though he still couldn't believe Daisuke and I were friends; that Niwa and Hikari could be anything but enemies, and walked back into the cavern. I stood, slowly, and looked around, taking in the perfect sky smudged just slightly with smoke, and the mirror-like lake from the cliff thousands of feet above the ground. I wondered if I would ever see anything this beautiful again.

Then I too, turned and walked back into the dimness of the cavern.

Lumi's POV

When Satoshi and Krad walked out, Mura hopped into my arms, and I gently stroked her ears. The hare was slowly becoming my only sense of comfort, with Dark being gone so often to continue his thieving sprees and Daisuke, Satoshi and myself being so consumed by schoolwork.

At the thought of homework, I began to laugh slightly, remembering what day it was. It was a Thursday now, and I should be in school. I did hope that Riku and Risa weren't too worried about Satoshi and me, and that they wouldn't decide to do anything foolish.

"Lumi," Dark interrupted my musings, sitting down beside me. "What are you thinking about?" I laughed a bit more, still stroking Mura's ears, then shooed her off toward Fenga, Ryoushi and Wiz, who were all piled on top of each other, asleep. It was quite cute, to be truthful.

"It's a Thursday," I replied. "I'm just thinking about how this 'trying to bring your best friend back to life' thing is damaging my education." Dark laughed a bit too.

"Lumi," he said, his eyes sparkling, "you keep forgetting something very important." I looked at him. "You're immortal. You have until the end of time to learn anything and everything you want!" He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gestured around us with his other hand. "You'll be able to do anything and everything by the time this world stops spinning!"

"Except have perfect attendance," I replied, and that set us both laughing again until I had to lean against Dark to stop myself from falling over. After we'd both calmed down somewhat, I rested my head on Dark's shoulder and tried to ignore the fact that his hair was in my eyes as I stared at The Silver Rose.

Gray was in there, and we had to release her. There were only two very serious problems, both of which I had no idea how to solve. One of them was that I didn't know how to release her from the artwork in the first place, and the second was that, even if I did release her, I would be releasing Sasha as well. And even though I had only seen her in that one vision, this new piece of art scared me almost as badly as Syerdtsye did.

"Dark," I said quietly, removing my head from his shoulder and leaning back against the wall, "when we find Daisuke… after we've done that…" I sighed, feeling my breath catch in my throat. "Dark, what are we going to do? We can't fight. We don't know where any of them are." I paused, almost getting caught up in the hopelessness of it all, but Dark put a hand on my shoulder. He leapt up and pulled me with him, and I was amazed to see his eyes all but bursting with happiness. I was still weak and still shaking a bit, but I stood, pulled off the ground where I had been comfortably sitting a moment earlier.

"You have her heart," he cried. "Lumi, you have her heart!" At first I didn't understand what he was talking about. I stared at him strangely for a minute. Then, in an instant, I realized what he was talking about. The small mirror; the heart-shaped mirror with a crack down the middle, was sitting in my temporary room in the Niwa's house. The artwork Syerdtsye had originated from.

"I do," I said, and my voice was much calmer than I had thought it would be. "I do, yes, but… I don't understand why you're so excited about it." Dark grabbed my shoulders and spun me around in a circle. I was caught off guard and nearly fell over, but was mostly annoyed by his lack of explanation.

"You have her heart," he said, still just as excited as before. "You have the artwork she came from, and you can, you should be able to control her!" Instead of feeling overjoyed, or happy, a chill shot down my spine. My eyes widened.

"What about the Black Wings?" I asked, suddenly terrified. "She could use you and… you and Krad…" I shuddered, now extremely cold. I had seen Krad nearly kill Gray once, and I knew how terrifying he could be when he was angry. Dark, however, seemed nonplussed.

"The Black Wings is much more powerful than it's supposed 'heart'," he shrugged. "Even if she tries to start controlling us, I should be able to stop her before her hold gets too strong." I nodded, feeling a little bit better. Dark meant what he said, I felt sure of it. However, before I could ask him anything more about controlling artworks, Krad walked in. Following him was Satoshi, looking distraught and paler than he normally was. I wondered why, but quickly put it out of my mind as Krad spoke.

"You needed me to find Daisuke," he said. I nodded slowly, and suddenly felt extremely vulnerable here in this cave. My magic was still drained, though returning to me quickly, and although I knew that this cave was safe, there was danger around me. I wondered if it was the fact that Sasha, whoever she was, was so close to me.

"Can you?" I asked cautiously. "I mean, I tried once, but…" I trailed off, remembering the hovering ball of flame that had appeared when I tried to track down Daisuke from the old church. "Well, it didn't really turn out too well."

"I can find him," Krad replied. "I have had much more experience than you have, Candra." I blinked, annoyed by his words, but I let him keep talking as I leaned back, closer to the crystals. Being closer to them seemed to help me regain my strength faster, and I had a feeling I would need that soon. I let my eyes drift shut, and let the cave wrap me in a cloak of warmth. I fell asleep.

…

When I woke again, I felt instinctively that some time had passed. It felt like early evening; the air was slightly heavy and cooler than it was during the day. I looked around me, seeing the now comforting crystal walls and the flickering firelight that seemed to come from within them. The Silver Rose and the Crystal of the Yin and Yang sat near each other on the wall opposite to me, and Fenga was curled up beneath them. She looked different than she had earlier, I thought, but I decided it was a trick of the flickering light. Looking about for the others, I didn't see anyone else in the large cavern. I stretched and stood up, and instantly, Murasaki was by my side.

The others are outside, she said quietly. They are waiting for you to wake up. Follow me. She began to hop off toward the entrance of the cave, and I followed, hoping I hadn't kept them waiting long. The Silver Rose and the Crystal stood side by side on a ledge of crystal, and as I passed them Fenga stirred slightly but did not wake. I glanced down at her, then knelt and stroked the fur on her head. It seemed rougher than it usually did; and as I continued to look at her, I saw that the wolf's fur was knotted and tangled in ways I had never seen.

"Mura," I said quietly, "Stay with Fenga unless I call you." Gray had told me in that dream so many months ago that Fenga was a part of her. She had said that as long as Fenga was well, she was also, yet now Fenga seemed ill.

"Hang in there Gray," I said, speaking to the sculpted roses. "As soon as Daisuke's home, we'll get you out of there. I promise." Stroking Fenga's head one last time, I stood and walked out of the cavern. I had to fight myself to not look back. I was afraid of what I might see; afraid that something awful would happen.

I walked out of the cave, down a narrow twisting corridor of crystal that slowly began giving way to rock, though crystals were still embedded in it. I went around a bend, and began to see daylight streaming in. It was orange, the color of dusk, and when I stepped out into open air it smelled like night. Satoshi stood on the cliff that was just outside of the cave entrance; his ice-blue wings flecked with droplets of blood. I looked up and saw Krad circling high above the mountain, and Dark diving down toward Satoshi and me. He landed between us, and nodded out toward the valley that was below the mountain.

"Look at it," he said, "isn't it just…" he paused, looking (I guessed) for the right words.

"Beautiful?" I supplied helpfully. Dark shook his head.

"It's too perfect," he said darkly. "I've learned from stealing artworks that if a place is too good to be true, then it's probably evil." I gazed out at the land below us, and felt a strange recognition in the back of my mind. It took only a moment for me to remember the rest of my dream those many months ago. The beautiful valley, the crystal clear lake… it was sitting here, right in front of me.

"Gray's heaven," I whispered. Without looking back, or even thinking about it, I took flight and soared down, heading toward the lake. It was just like I had seen it before: the water was crystal clear and I could see dragonflies skimming the surface; golden fish were darting about in the crystalline depths as my wings caused the smallest of ripples to appear on the surface. I laughed for no reason but to laugh, and then I soared up, back to Dark and Satoshi. Krad landed beside his tamer, with Ryoushi by his side.

"I've found Daisuke," Krad said, "Ryoushi will lead us there. Follow him." The dog yapped, and then spread his golden wings and took off, his paws moving as though he was running instead of flying. I grinned, and the four of us quickly took off after Krad's familiar.

We're on our way Daisuke, I thought to myself. Hang on.

…

AN: You all still remember and love me? Awesome! Leave me a review!